Day cleans up at Japan Skins challenge

HONOLULU — Matt Kuchar kept another clean card and shot a 4-under 66 to take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Sony Open in Hawaii as he goes for his second victory this season on the PGA TOUR. Kuchar ended a three-year drought by winning the Mayakoba Classic in Mexico last fall. He has made only one bogey through 54 holes at Waialae Country Club, and his 18-under 192 was the lowest 54-hole score of his career. Andrew Putnam was two shots behind after a 67. Keith Mitchell had a 63 and was four behind, along with Chez Reavie (66). Those were the only players within five shots of the lead, and all of them are chasing Kuchar. He is 2-2 in his career when leading going into the final round.  

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Each day at THE PLAYERS Championship, PGATOUR.COM’s staff writers will dive into the big issues and questions everyone is discussing. Spoiler alert — we don’t always agree. Dustin Johnson has never had a top-10 finish at THE PLAYERS. Will he remain in contention after his co-leading 6-under 66? Mike McAllister (Managing Editor) – Difficult to think the world No. 1 won’t stay in the hunt but consider me skeptical. Track record’s just not there. But if he shoots another 66 on Friday… Sean Martin (Senior Editor) – I think so. He’s the No. 1 player in the world, so there’s no reason to think that he won’t. He just has to remain disciplined and stick to his game plan. Ben Everill (Staff Writer) – Contention… Yes. Will he win? No. I don’t think his putting will stay as solid over the next three rounds. Cameron Morfit (Staff Writer) – It seems likely. He believes he’s found something with his putting with the new putter and his new use of the Aimpoint system of green-reading. And that self-belief should carry him through to some more solid rounds. What kind of odds would you give Si Woo Kim to repeat after his opening 67? McAllister – Still not good, but he continues to impress me at the TOUR’s signature course. Hit 12 fairways and 14 greens on Thursday. Martin – No one has ever repeated at this event, so history is against him. This course is so penal, and field so strong, that it’s no surprise that no one has gone back-to-back. Everill – I’ll offer 30-1. Si Woo certainly loves this place and is an almost robotic talent at times but history and the quality of others who also started well are against him. Morfit – Around here I’d say maybe 5-10 percent. No one has ever repeated. Kim played well enough to win at RBC Heritage, and he looks imminently comfortable at TPC Sawgrass, but we were reminded how quickly the course can strike back when he made those back-to-back bogeys on 7 and 8. In 10 words or less, describe the Tiger-Phil-Rickie performance. McAllister – Misconceive, underachieve and long sleeves. Martin – Underwhelming. Everill – A tough day at the office. Morfit – A mild letdown, but the afternoon conditions were tougher. Biggest surprise of the opening round? McAllister – The kneejerk reaction is Steve Stricker but he talked me off the ledge after his 67. “I’m not surprised,â€� he said. “I feel like I’m capable of putting up a round like this.â€� Gotta love the last-man-in shoots 67 story. Nice job, Keith Mitchell. Martin – Phil’s 79 is definitely up there, but I think that Keith Mitchell’s 67 deserves this honor. The rookie was the last man in the field. He didn’t get in the event until Wednesday. Nice debut. Everill – The obvious one is Keith Mitchell but to be honest Adam Scott’s 69 surprised me a bunch given his recent lack of form. The former PLAYERS champ is free-falling down the world rankings but now has a chance to arrest the slide. Hope he does. Morfit – Given the fact that Dustin Johnson had no top-10 finishes in nine starts here, his 66 was pretty surprising. Funny how quickly we forgot about the world No. 1. Keith Mitchell’s 67 was unexpected, as well. Biggest non-surprise of the opening round? McAllister – Matt Kuchar off to a strong start. He’s won here before, and though he denies it, I suspect he wanted to make amends for his last trip around TPC Sawgrass (an 81 in third round last year). Martin – Sergio Garcia’s 68. Playing the final three holes in 3 over par was a surprise, but the guy is a perennial contender at TPC Sawgrass. Everill – That Phil Mickelson struggled while wearing his new button-down office shirt. I just can’t get used to it. Morfit – This is a tie between past champions Sergio Garcia (68) and Matt Kuchar (66). They love TPC Sawgrass, and they showed it yet again.

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2020 The American Express, Round 2 Scoring Conditions: Stadium Course (SC): -1.63 strokes per round La Quinta (LQ): -2.78 Nicklaus Tournament (NT): -3.08 Current cutline (top 65 and ties) 67 players at -6 or better (T55) Top 3 projected cutline probabilities: 8 under par: 27.0% 9 under par: 26.1% 7 under par: 17.2% Top 10 win probabilities: Rickie Fowler (T1, -15, 28.3%) Scottie Scheffler (T1, -15, 18.9%) Andrew Landry (3, -14, 9.2%) Tony Finau (4, -13, 8.3%) Sungjae Im (T6, -11, 4.4%) Bud Cauley (5, -12, 3.4%) Alex Noren (T12, -10, 2.6%) Chase Seiffert (T6, -11, 1.9%) Ryan Moore (T6, -11, 1.9%) Cameron Davis (T6, -11, 1.6%) NOTE: These reports are based off the live predictive model run by @DataGolf. The model provides live “Make Cut�, “Top 20�, “Top 5�, and “Win� probabilities every 5 minutes from the opening tee shot to the final putt of every PGA TOUR event. Briefly, the model takes account of the current form of each golfer as well as the difficulty of their remaining holes, and probabilities are calculated from 20K simulations. To follow live finish probabilities throughout the remainder of the Sony Open in Hawaii, or to see how each golfer’s probabilities have evolved from the start of the event to the current time, click here for the model’s home page.

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